CAIRO, March 13 (AFP) - Egyptian rights activists on Monday welcomed a government decision to release over 800 Islamists detained on suspicion of opposing the government, but said the pardon did not go far enough.
Egypt's Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRCAP) demanded the "immediate" release of all political prisoners held in Egyptian jails and asked the government to reveal how many are being detained and the reasons for their
detention.
The HRCAP estimates that 15,000 Islamists or suspected Islamists are being held under Egypt's emergency laws, which have been in place continuously since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Under an amnesty for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, the Egyptian authorities began freeing between 800 and 1,000 detainees – mainly belonging to the Gamaa Islamiya group – over the weekend, security sources said.
The amnesty deal between the Interior Ministry and the Gamaa, which has renounced violence, does not include people convicted of violence and serving prison sentences, the sources said.
The HRCAP also reiterated a call by Egyptian rights activists for an end to the emergency laws, which were originally imposed in 1967 and lifted for just 18 months at the beginning of the 1980s. Parliament decided last month to extend the state of emergency for a further three years.
"The pretext of fighting terrorism is not sufficient excuse for extending the emergency laws, especially after the halt of violent and terrorist acts since November 1997," the HRCAP statement said.
Muslim activists massacred 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians in Luxor in November 1997 but the situation has since calmed.
